Manicure Mondays – OPI Pure Lacquer Nail Appliques

OPI is launching their all new Pure Lacquer Nail Appliques this month, real nail polish strips available in 14 different designs. They let me pick out two of my favorite appliques to review and I chose the blue fishnet and the reptile. I LOVED both designs – the blue was so fun and perfect for summer and the reptile, perfect for fall/winter, is actually much more beautiful than it shows in the pic above.

Since we’ve seen press on nail strips before, I’ll compare and contrast OPI’s to other brands. The OPI Pure Lacquer nail appliques were super easy to apply with no smoothing issues and I love having a greater selection of designs on the market to choose from. Compared to the original nail appliques {at least the first I’d ever heard tried}, Salon Effects by Sally Hansen, which are thick and provide great coverage for nail ridges and visible nail lines {VNL}, OPI’s appliques are a little on the thin side. You can see my nail ridges in the blue fishnet pic above. Also, this brand is a little harder to remove than the Sally Hansen brand, similar to Incoco nail strips, as it has a gummy sticky layer that rolls up under a cotton swab. Lastly, OPI’s nail appliques do not come with a nail file and cuticle stick like Sally Hansen’s, which is interesting since OPI’s pricing is a little higher at $11.95 vs. Sally Hansen’s price tag of $9.99.

Overall, the designs are beautiful and I love their selection. They’re super easy to apply, but I’m not sure that I’d spend $11.95 on appliques that are this difficult to remove, are thin, and a little more expensive than other appliques on the market.

So what do you think of OPI’s Pure Lacquer Nail Appliques. See any designs you’d like to try?